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UNITED STATES BUREAU OF EDUCATION 

BULLETIN, 1914. NO. 28 ^ 



WHOLE NUMBER 602 




THE MONTESSORI METHOD AND 
THE KINDERGARTEN 



By ELIZABETH HARRISON 

NATIONAL KINDERGARTEN COLLEGE. CHICAGO, flL. 




WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFHCE 

1917 




UNITED STATES BUREAU OF EDUCATION 

BULLETIN. 1914. NO. 28 WHOLE NUMBER 602 



THE MONTESSORI METHOD AND 
THE KINDERGARTEN 



By ELIZABETH HARRISON 

NATIONAL KINDERGARTEN COLLEGE. CHICAGO. ILL. 




WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1917 



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ADDITIONAL COPIES 

OF THIS PUBLICATION MAY BE PROCURED FROM 

THE SUPERINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

WASHINGTON, D. C. 

AT 

5 CENTS PER COPY 

V 



D« of D. 
FEB 19 J9I7 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 

Letter of transmittal 5 

I. Introduction 9 

II. The principle of freedom 10 

III. The didactic material 16 

IV. Exercising the muscles of young children 22 

V. Training of the senses 27 

VI. The silent game 29 

VII. Limitations of the Montessori method 30 

3 



LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. 



Department of the Interior, 

Bureau of Education, 
Washington^ January 5, IGlIi.. 

Sir : It lias been said that Rousseau discovered childhood, and 
Froebel, infancy. For the teachers of the eighteenth centuiy the 
child was a little man or woman, different from the adult only in size, 
strength, and knowledge. For it there was no growth, only expan- 
sion. Education consisted in training and instruction — not in devel- 
opment. It was artificial rather than natural. ^Vllatever came by 
nature could, in the minds of most, be only evil. 

The worthiness, rightness, and rights of the child's nature, and 
the importance of self -development, formed the burden of the mes- 
sage of Rousseau and his disciples. For them childhood was not 
manhood or womanhood in miniature, but something different, with 
interests, ideals, virtues, and activities of its own, a stage in the 
development of the individual, on the proper unfolding, strengthen- 
ing, and functioning of which depends the welfare of the future man 
or woman. But Rousseau understood little of infancy. He counted 
it fortunate if the infant died in infancy. His own children he sent 
to the foundling hospital and took care that there were no marks 
on their clothing by which they might afterwards be identified. It 
remained for Froebel, with his sensitive woman soul, his philo- 
sophical mind, his poetic feeling for the oneness of the universe, and 
his prescient grasp of the fundamental principles of evolution, to com- 
prehend infancy — the first six or seven years of life — as the most 
important period in the life of the individual, and its proper treat- 
ment as the most important problem in education. After long years 
of study of infancy in the light of philosophy, he embodied what he 
conceived to be the fundamental principles of the education of little 
children in his doctrine of the kindergarten, and his ideas of the 
best means for the application of these principles in his kindergarten 
program, materials, and devices. This discovery of the kindergar- 
ten — for such he called it (not the kindergarten, but infancy was the 
real discovery) — made a new tendency in education, and is one of 
the significant events marking a new era in the history of the world. 
From the day of this discovery until now interest in child study has 

5 



6 LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. 

constantly increased, and the care and education of little children has 
become constantly more intelligent, both in the home and in the 
school. Though suppressed for many years by governmental author- 
ity in Germany and received with much suspicion elsewhere, the 
kindergarten movement has extended to all the world and has become 
an integral part of the public-school system of many cities and States. 
Its introduction into England was championed by Charles Dickens, 
the novelist and friend of children. In America the kindergarten 
found an advocate in our great philosopher and educator, Dr. Wil- 
liam T. Harris, sometime United States Commissioner of Education. 

For Froebel, as for the originator of every great reform, the 
principle was the essential and abiding thing, the form, however per- 
fect, more or less accidental and passing. The thing of importance 
was the proper care and right education of little children rather than 
the transmission of an unchanging institution or the perpetuation of 
a program. But here, as elsewhere, form is more apparent than prin- 
ciple, method than purpose and aim. As in Goethe's Faust, Helen, 
the spirit of beauty, vanishes, leaving only her garments, more or less 
antiquated and outworn forms, to the aspiring Faust, so from the 
organized kindergarten too often has the spirit of the truth-seeking, 
child-loving, freedom-desiring Froebel departed, leaving only the 
form through which the spirit expressed itself. Not always has the 
kindergarten welcomed the discoveries of scientific child study, and 
to the extent that it has failed to do this it has lost the confidence of 
those who are interested more in the child than in a name, program, 
or cult. This indictment is, of course, not intended to apply to all 
kindergartens, nor the implied loyalty to form rather than to prin- 
ciple to all kindergartners. Many, probably most, of the leading 
kindergartners have welcomed eagerly every new truth and have 
tried earnestly and with more or less success to make it effective in 
their practical teaching. 

Recently an earnest, brilliant, and learned Italian woman, Dr. 
Maria Montessori, has become famous, probably beyond her desire, 
for her contribution to our knowledge of little children and for the 
embodiment of her own and the discoveries of others in what she likes 
to call " a method of a new science of education." Her scientific in- 
vestigations as a biologist and physician have led her to the formula- 
tion or acceptance of a doctrine of education for little children essen- 
tially the same as that at which Froebel arrived by another road — 
that of carefully observed, intelligently directed self-development. 
The schools {G(fse clei hamh'nii) for little children in Eome in which 
Dr. Montessori is trying out the methods and devices which she has 
invented or accepted for the application of her principles are at- 
tracting earnest students of education from all the world, and 



LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. 7 

especially from America, and they count themselves fortunate who 
have opportunity to come under Dr. Montessori's immediate instruc- 
tion. Enthusiastic disciples are establishing similar schools here and 
have formed themselves into a national society for the study and 
extension of the Montessori principles and methods, interest in which 
has been much increased by the recent visit of Dr. Montessori to this 
country and by the lectures which she delivered in several of our 
largest cities. 

Though aims and principles are the same for both Froebel and 
Montessori, their different methods of approach have resulted in 
difference in emphasis, program, and devices. For those who see 
no further than the form, there is apparent conflict; many can not 
easily understand that the work of both Froebel and Montessori, with 
that of many other earnest students and teachers, must finally lose, 
each, its distinctive characteristics and individuality, in the larger 
whole of a more perfect knowledge of the nature of infancy and the 
means of educating young children. 

To this end the careful study of Dr. Montessori's work by those 
who are familiar with the teachings of Froebel and the best practices 
of the kindergarten can not fail to be helpful. For this reason I 
recommend that the manuscript transmitted herewith, prepared by 
Miss Elizabeth Harrison, president of the National Kindergarten 
College, be published as a bulletin of the Bureau of Education, for 
distribution among kindergartners and others directly interested in 
the education of children below the ordinary American school age. 
Miss Harrison, who has long been identified with the kindergarten 
movement in America and has observed the kindergarten in all of 
its most important centers, was sent to Eome by the National Kinder- 
garten Association that she might make a thorough study of Dr. 
Montessori's methods. This manuscript was prepared after a stay of 
some months in Eome, studying with Dr. Montessori and observing 
in the case dei bambini. 

Respectfully submitted. 

P. P. Claxton, 

CoTnTnissioner. 

To the Secretary or the Interior. 



THE MONTESSORI METHOD AND THE 
KINDERGARTEN. 



I. INTRODUCTION. 

The educational world is still eagerly discussing the comparative 
merits of an experiment which was made by Dr. Maria Montessori 
in Rome with a few poor children gathered from the tenement dis- 
tricts of that city and placed by her in large, light, airy rooms 
connected with a model tenement house recently established by an 
association of philanthropic Roman citizens. 

Much misunderstanding prevails with regard to Dr. Montessori's 
work. Notwithstanding the fact that she has somewhat suddenly 
attained a world-wide reputation, she modestly claims to have estab- 
lished only one pedagogical laboratory, her idea being that many 
more must be established and the results compared before a scientific 
system of pedagogy can be worked out. She lays no clainis to a 
new method of pedagogy, but rather to a method of a new science 
of pedagogy. The beginnings of this new science had already 
manifested themselves in education by the special attention given to 
physically handicapped children, to mentally defective individuals, 
and to moral derelicts. The same influence is observable in many 
other directions — in the attempts to provide a wholesome recreation 
for the congested sections of our great cities ; in the effort to deepen 
social life for the isolated workers in the agricultural districts; in 
the advocacy of farm life for boys instead of juvenile courts and 
houses of correction. It is also observable in the more scientific 
treatment of prisoners in our more advanced penal institutions. 
Eugenics, hygiene, anthropology, and similar studies have become 
topics of general interest instead of subjects reserved only for 
specialists. Better still, we are awakening to the fact that the efforts 
of "experimental psychology," although they htive brought forth 
valuable by-products, have failed to reduce man to the laws of 
physics. The inner spirit or personality of man has refused to be 
reduced to the laws of mere organic matter. Dr. Montessori's work 
is thoroughly in accord with this principle. Notwithstanding her 
exacting and thorough training as a scientist, she has absolute faith 
in the importance of the study of the child's ego or personality and 
claims that it will be the chief concern of pedagogy in the near 
future. 

75778°— 17 2 • 



10 MONTESSORI METHOD AND THE KINDERGAETEN. 

Any estimate of Madame Montessori's Avork, to be of practical 
value to the mother or teacher, will necessarily involve a comparison 
between the Montessori method and that of the kindergarten, since 
the kindergarten is the only system of organized educational work 
for young children that has so far received general recognition. It 
is important to remind ourselves, however, that the welfare of the 
little child is of far more significance than the mere settlement of 
rival claims between the kindergarten and Montessori. Only by 
taking this larger view of the subject can we come to any just or 
satisfactory estimate of Dr. Montessori's education of young chil- 
dren, and that will be the chief consideration in this bulletin rather 
than an extended account of her psychological view, which is not 
new. It will be necessary to show, however, how the latter has 
shaped the former. 

The contributions in Dr. Montessori's work that are of most prac- 
tical value to us come largely from her training as a physician and 
a student of anthropology. It is doubtful if any kindergartner has 
made so thorough a study of the physical needs of children. She 
has also the advantage of the scientific advance which experimental 
psychology has made since Froebel's day, concerning the effects of 
the bodily condition upon the mental progress of children. As a 
result of her anthropological studies, she has furnished us with a very 
simple and easily comprehended chart, which shows the average 
height, weight, etc., of the normal child, at 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 years of 
age, and thereby gives a standard, by means of which the abnormality 
of any child can be easily ascertained. 

The kindergarten as organized by Friedrich Froebel in Germany 
in the middle of the last century has been much enriched and im- 
proved by American kindergartners. Any one who visits the aver- 
age European kindergarten, where the work seems to be in an almost 
hopeless stage of formalism, will appreciate this fact. This is not 
implying a criticism upon Froebel's central thought, however, for 
even in America it has not been fully understood, nor carried out as 
it some day will be. Indeed, one of the valuable things Dr. Mon- 
tessori has done has been to stir up the kindergarten world and set 
its leaders to thinking of their present limitations, and how they 
can do better work. 



II. THE PRINCIPLE OF FREEDOM. 

The first thing to be considered in any method of training worthy 
of consideration is the fundamental principle on which that system 
is based. In Dr. Montessori's case this is easily stated. She be- 
lieves that the child's inner self or personality can not rightfully 



THE PEINCIPLE OF FREEDOM. 11 

develop unless it is free to express itself undirected and unguided 
hj another person. Therefore, she insists that each child must be 
allowed to be bodily free and have as much unhampered liberty of 
action as possible, in order that he may fully express his inner life 
in outer activity. The child's liberty is to be unlimited, except 
where it clashes with the liberty of another person or endangers life. 
Dr. Montessori states in her chapter on discipline : 

We call au individual discipliued wlaen lie is master of himself, and can 
therefore regulate his own conduct when it shall be necessary to follow some 
rule of life. Such concept of active discipline is not easy to comprehend nor 
to apply. But certainly it contains the great educational principle, very differ- 
ent from the old-time absolute and undiscussed coercion of immobility. And 
such technique is necessary to the teacher who is to lead the child along such 
a field of discipline, if she is to make it possible for him to continue in this 
way all his life; advancing indefinitely toward perfect self-mastery. * * * 

If any educational act is to he efficacious, it will be only that which tends to 
help toward the complete unfolding of this life; to be thus helpful, it is neces- 
sary rigorously to avoid the arrest of spontaneous movements and the Imposi- 
tion of arbitrary tasks. It is, of course, understood here that we do not speak 
of a useless or dangerous act ; this must be suppressed, destroyed. 

In this she differs from Froebel, who would have the mother stimu- 
late or help to awaken the child's instincts, even in the young infant, 
as shown by his commentary on the little songs included in the 
Mother Play Songs, wherein he states that the mother's training 
of her child begins by thus guiding aright the first physical and 
spontaneous activities of his limbs. It is true that in the " Educa- 
tion of Man," written 10 years earlier, Froebel had said : " Education 
in instruction and training, originally and in its first principles, would 
necessarily be passive, following (only guarding and protecting) , not 
prescriptive, categorical, interfering."^ This passage in Froebel's 
writings has perhaps caused more discussion than any one statement 
in any modern pedagogical writing. Yet even in the same volimie 
Froebel modifies his statement by comparing the child's training to 
the trimming of the grapevine, which, to bear its best fruits, must be 
occasionally pruned. There is also his belief in the need of a wise and 
patient guidance on the part of the mother, as evidenced by the 
Mother Play. We shall have to conclude, therefore, that absolute 
freedom was not intended. 

Herbert Spencer exemplifies the same urging of greater liberty for 
the child : " The proper function of education in preparation for com- 
plete living is the free exercise of all our faculties." Many more 
educators could be quoted as urging greater freedom in childhood. 

Undoubtedly there has been too much domineering on the part 
of the teacher in the past, yet must not the wisdom of the ages guide 
the child ? Else how is he to find the " eternal verities " of life 

1 Section 7. 



12 MOXTESSORI METHOD AND THE KINDEEGAETEN. 

or the time-tested standards of real moral conduct ? It is practically 
impossible to leave the child absolutely unguided and undirected. 
To a large degree, Dr. Montessori substitutes for personal authority, 
impersonal materials, which check and direct the child. Yet, 
even in her schools in Rome, there were times when the teacher's 
authority had to be used, and it still remains a problem as to how far 
it is wise to eliminate all consciousness, on the part of the child, of 
intelligent authority, sympathetically applied, to his guidance and 
conduct. 

Dr. Montessori gives an excellent illustration of the stupid hinder- 
ing wliich untrained or unsympathetic teachers too often impose upon 
children, entirely unconscious of the mischief they are doing to the 
young and growing life. 

One day tlie children had gathered themselves, laughing and talking, into 
a circle about a basin of water containing some floating toys. We had in the 
school a little boy barely 2i years old. He had been left outside the circle, 
alone, and it was easy to see that he was filled with intense curiosity. I 
watched him from a distance with great interest; he first drew near to the 
other children and tried to force his way among them, but he was not strong 
enough to do this, and he then stood looking about him. The expression of 
thought on his little face was intensely interesting. I wish that I had had a 
camera, so that I might have photographed him. His eyes lighted upon a little 
chair, and evidently he made up his mind to place it behind the group of 
children and then to climb on it. He began to move toward the chair, his 
face illuminated with hope, but at that moment the teacher seized him bru- 
tally (or, perhaps, she would have said, gently) in her arms and, lifting him up 
above the heads of the other children, showed him the basin of water, saying, 
" Come, poor little one, you shall see, too ! " Undoubtedly, the child, seeing 
the floating toys, did not experience the joy that he was about to feel through 
conquering the obstacle with his own force. The sight of those objects could 
be of no advantage to him, while his intelligent efforts would have developed his 
inner powers. The teacher hindered the child in this case from educating him- 
self without giving him any compensating good in return. The little fellow 
had been about to feel himself a conqueror, and he found himself held within 
two imprisoning arms, impotent. The expression of joy, anxiety, and hope, 
which had interested me so much, faded from his face and left on it the 
stupid expression of the child who knows that others will act for him. 

There is scarcely a supervisor of kindergartens who has not wit- 
nessed similar pathetically injurious scenes. Froebel goes even fur- 
ther than this when he says: 

The child should, from the very time of his birth, be viewed in accordance 
with his nature, treated correctly, and given the free, all-sided use of his 
powers. By no means should the use of certain powers and members be 
enhanced at the expense of others, and these hindered in their development; 
the child should neither be partly chained, fettered, nor swathed ; nor, later on, 
spoiled by too much assistance. The child should learn early how to find in 
himself the center and fulcrum of all his powers and members, to seek his sup- 
port in this, and. resting therein, to move freely and be active, to grasp and 
hold with his own hands, to stand and walk on his own feet, to find and 



THE PRINCIPLE OF FREEDOM. 13 

observe witli his own eyes, to use bis members symmetrically and equally. At 
an early period the child should learn, apply, and practice the most difficult of 
all arts — to hold fast the center and fulcrum of his life, in spite of all digres- 
sions, disturbances, and hindrances. 

A kindergartner tells of a child about 5 years of age in her school, 
who, owing to the extreme wealth of his parents, had been hampered 
and waited upon until he was almost helpless. She describes the effort 
which she had made to encourage him in his attempt to put on one of 
his own wraps without the aid of herself or his nursery maid. She 
led him^ to watch the other children as they wrapped and unwrapped 
themselves and graduallj^ succeeded in having him master the intri- 
cacies of fitting on his rubbers, putting on his overcoat and but- 
toning it up, pulling his hat over his ears, -and slipping his hands into 
his gloves. One day at the close of the school, while she was busy 
with other duties, she heard him shouting aloud in tones of overflow- 
ing joy, "I can do it all myself! I can do it all myself!" as he 
danced up and down the room in excitement and glee. In telling 
of the incident, she said, " I never saw more pleasure expressed on the 
face of a child. I think no present which could have been given to 
him could have possibly produced such feeling. It was the joy of 
discovery of power within himself." To many unthinking parents 
and teachers these simple, ordinary exercises of self-help are looked 
upon as trivial, whereas in reality they are part of the discipline 
which produces men and women of power and resource and indi- 
viduals who are fearless because they are independent. 

This tendency toward freedom from rigidity is perhaps the most 
distinctive characteristic of modern education as compared with 
that which has come down to us from mediaeval times, and which is 
even yet too prevalent in many of our schools. It gives greater free- 
dom of bodily movement, greater ease of position while studying, 
does avv^ay with fixed seats crowded close to fixed desks, breaks up 
the machinelike marching to and from classes, adds relaxation of 
muscles and nerves by rhythmic exercises, increases coordination of 
muscles and control of bodily movement by well-selected games, and 
brings composure of manner and self-control by the introduction of 
simple, dramatic plays. This thought of gi^eater freedom is en- 
couraged by distributing certain duties of the schoolrooms among the 
students and by letting the pupils formulate certain rules for their 
own self-government. It is the same principle that allows greater 
initiative to pupils in discussion in the classroom; it leads to indi- 
vidual research work in the school library; it makes the students 
express themselves in their own language rather than that of the text- 
book, write out personal opinions or experiences, and compare in- 
formation gained from new enterprises with that already Imown; 
and it encourages creative handwork, as well as original composition. 



14 MONTESSORI METHOD AND THE KINDEEGAETEN. 

To ayoid running into caprice, this principle of freedom, of course, 
must be offset by giving to the pupils the ideal standards of each 
line of work by means of which they can compare their own work 
with that of experts. 

It is impossible to resist adding a few words of the Dottoressa's 
protest concerning the abominable practice of giving external prizes 
and their detrimental effect upon the inner life. With it all true 
lovers of the real child will agree. She states that when — 

we have once accepted and established these principles of developing power 
from within, the abolition of prizes and external forms of punishment will 
follow naturally. Man, disciplined, through liberty, begins to desire the true 
and only prize which will never belittle or disappoint him — the birth of human 
power and liberty within, thatinuer life of his from which his activities must 
spring. 

When we realize the tremendous influence which well-deserved 
praise and just censure have upon the child we begin to comprehend 
the immorality of rewarding self-conquest and earnest endeavor 
(both of which are spiritual activities) by giving to the child mere 
external rewards. The mother who says to her little one, " If you 
will be good while I am away I will bring you some candy," lowers 
the child's standard of moral conduct to the plane of physical grati- 
fication and confuses the child's ideas of the higher and lower stand- 
ards of life. The same is true of the awarding of prizes and, alas, 
of our universal system of grading pupils by the marking of examina- 
tion papers. Here again we meet with a tremendous problem not 
yet solved. 

This brings up the much-discussed question whether we are to have 
in schools arbitrary discipline or no discipline except that which 
comes from the deed itself or from remembrances of former expe- 
riences of failure or discomfort. The " retributory " theory has long 
been held by many modern educators, but it is nowhere ideally carried 
out, not even in these Roman schools. Still, they are an advance in 
the effort at self-control and self-discipline, and as such are most 
interesting. 

This freedom. Dr. Montessori claims, is absolutely necessary for 
" auto-education," which is but another name for the watchword of 
the present-day movement in education, "self-activity," the central 
thought of the kindergarten, and strongly insisted upon by Herbart, 
Spencer, Dewey, and other modern educational leaders. It is, 
therefore, no new doctrine; but she has a new method of pro- 
cedure. In the first place, she demands that the schoolroom in which 
little children are placed shall have space sufficient for the children 
to move about in easily, and to allow them to sit, stand, walk, or lie 
down on the small rugs which are part of the room's furnishings. 



THE PRINCIPLE OF FREEDOM. 15 

This is in order that their bodies may not be taxed by remaining in 
one position too long. The freedom thus given to the impulse to 
change the muscular strain of his body whenever the child so wishes 
(an excellent point) is an advance over and above the amount of 
freedom allowed in the ordinary kindergarten, which is still far 
!-'hort of the ideal kindergarten. In Rome I saw no boisterousness 
nor capricious use of this liberty to move about, not even when a 
little one chose to lie down upon the floor. The children were as 
natural and normal as any happy and occupied children would be 
in their own homes, and merely used the liberty to move about when 
the body seemed to demand it. Of course, the use of small rugs on 
the floor, which the children unroll when they wish to use them 
and roll up again when they have finished using them, demands 
daily cleaning of the floor, a demand of common sense not always 
carried into execution in our schools. 

This keen-sighted physician insists, also, that there shall be two 
rooms or a room and a courtyard, garden, or open porch, in order 
that any child may feel free at any time to absent himself from the 
supervising presence of the teacher and to come and go in the allotted 
space as he may please. Just how this added freedom can be given 
in our overcroAvded city schools is a problem yet to be solved, but 
physically and psychologically, it is undoubtedly a good thing for 
each child to feel that he is free from the supervision of authority 
for some portion of each day and, therefore, is responsible for his 
own conduct in order that his personal will power may be developed. 
It was Emerson who said, " Unless a man hath a will within him, 
you can tie him to nothing." As parents and teachers we have not 
fully realized that the development of this much-needed will power 
within can be naturally increased by this simple device of freeing a 
child from the consciousness of adult authority. Of course, a mother 
or teacher who understands this psychological point and who is 
tactful enough can grant this freedom from the dominating influence 
of another personality while still bodily present. It takes large 
sympathies and great self-control to do this, however, and the simple 
device of another room or courtyard is excellent. On the other 
hand, it is equally true that every young child should feel at times 
that he is under guidance and authority, in order that his "group 
instinct " may develop into the cooperation needed in every advanc- 
ing stage of life. We are much more apt to insist on our authority 
being obeyed, however, than on giving a child too much freedom of 
learning from his own experience. 



16 MONTESSOKI METHOD AND THE KINDEKGAETEN. 

III. THE DIDACTIC MATERIAL. 

For the sake of added development of the spirit of self -helpfulness 
and the growth of power of initiative Dr. Montessori has introduced 
into her schools what she calls exercises in practical material. These 
consist of small, easily handled wooden frames to which are attached 
pieces of cloth or leather on which are buttons and buttonholes, hooks 
and eyes, eyelets and lacing cords, and strings to be tied and imtied. 
These are to train the feeble muscles of the small hands of little 
children to fasten and unfasten their own clothing and to learn 
thereby the sooner to dress and undress themselves. Independence 
in the care of their own bodies is considered one of the important 
steps toward freedom of action and thought. In speaking of the 
value of her practical exercises, Dr. Montessori says : 

We habitually serve cbildren. This Is not only an act of servility toward 
them, but it is dangerous, since it tends to suffocate their useful, spontaneous 
activity. We are inclined to believe that children are like puppets, and vpewash 
them and feed them as if they were dolls. We do not stop to think that the 
child who does not do does not know how to do. He must, nevertheless, do 
these things, and nature has furnished him with the physical needs of carrying 
on these various activities and with the intellectual means for learning how to 
do them; and our duty toward him is, in every case, that of helping him to 
make a conquest of such useful acts as nature intended he should perform for 
himself. The mother who feeds her child without making the least effort to 
teach him to hold the spoon for himself and to try to tind his mouth with it, 
and who does not, at least, eat herself, inviting the child to look and see how 
she does it, is not a good mother. She offends the fundamental human dignity 
of her son ; she treats him as if he were a doll, when he is, instead, a man 
confided by nature to her care. 

These simple devices for teaching a child to (J^ess and undress 
himself, as well as to wash his own face and hands, will be of real 
value in day nurseries and in many kindergartens where children 
come from disorderly and untrained homes or from homes where 
the many servants endanger the right development of self-help of 
children by dressing and undressing them long after their services 
should be unneeded. I have seen great lubberly boys of 7 and 8 years 
of age stop on the street while the nursery maid unbuttoned their 
overcoats and took them off as carefully as if they were helpless 
infants of 1 year or 2 years of age, thus hindering the real growth of 
independence and consciousness of personal power. It is but justice 
to Dr. Montessori to state that these exercises are of further value in 
the development of the muscles of the hand and the familiarizing of 
the child with mechanical movement in general. She also insists 
upon the use of geometric forms as the foundation for all correct and 
accurate observation of form. In this she agrees once more with 
the kindergarten, although her geometric forms are somewhat dif- 
ferently presented to the child. Froebel says : 



THE DIDACTIC MATERIAL. 17 

Form, and whatever may depend on form, reveals in various ways inner and 
spiritual energy. To recognize this inner energy is a part of man's destiny, 
for thereby he learns to know himself, his relation to his surroundings, and, 
consequently, absolute being. It is, therefore, an essential part of human edu- 
cation to teach the human being not only to apprehend but also how to represent 
form. 

He then proceeds to explain how geometric forms show this inner 
energy as incidental forms do not. 

Although Dr. Montessori's materials do not possess the creative 
possibilities that lie in the kindergarten play tools and handwork, 
nevertheless her " didactic material " supplies a recognized need for 
that stage of growth in the young child which demands activity for 
activity's sake and is concerned not so much with the kind of activity 
as with the desire to be doing something. 

This stage of growth easily develops into idle dawdling or into 
downright destructiveness unless it can be satisfied w^ith strong, sub- 
stantial material which may be easily handled and quickly mastered 
by a 2 or 3 year old child. If such material is supplied, it furnishes 
the beginning of the habit of succeeding at what one undertakes — 
an important habit. This new " didactic material " seems, by the 
definite consciousness of mastery wdiich it gives to the child, to bring 
this desired result. 

Perhaps I can not do better than to give a brief account from my 
journal of a morning spent in the " Casa dei Bambini," at the Via 
Giusta Convent in Eome. 

The acknowledged best demonstration of Dr. Montessori's idea of 
the education of young children to be found in Rome is this '' Casa 
dei Bambini." The school is under the immediate patronage of 
Queen Margherita and is in connection with the old and established 
orphan asylum under the auspices of the Franciscan nuns. The gray 
and unattractive outer walls of the convent give no idea of the two 
beautiful and luxuriant courtyards within. These latter are filled 
with beds of blossoming plants, and the pillars of the inner porch 
or loggia are covered with clinging vines. The two courtyards are 
separated by stately series of well-proportioned arches, and the 
schoolroom in w^hich the class for the children is held opens wdth 
wide, double doors into one of these loA^ely courtyards, where the 
children pla}^ during the hours in which they are not engaged in their 
Montessori exercises. Most of them come from near-by tenement 
houses. At one side of the schoolroom there is a small washroom 
where the}^ all, even the youngest, wash their own hands and faces, 
put on clean, neat, calico aprons, so that when they appear in the 
schoolroom thej' look as fresh and clean as children from well-cared- 
for homes. 

75778^—17 3 



18 MONTESSOKI METHOD AND THE KINDERGARTEN. 

I arrived at the Via Giusta Convent on this particiihir morning; 
some 15 minutes ahead of the appointed hour, but the rules are rio;id, 
and I had to wait in the small white and gold chapel until lO.-'U) 
o'clock, the regulation time. I could, however, hear the happy voices 
of the busy children in the next room, bustling around, getting the 
room in order. They had already had the morning prayer before 
beginning their domestic duties. In a few moments more I heard 
the ringing shouts of gleeful activity in the courtyards, followed by 
the rustle and stir of the children returning to the schoolroom, and 
then a tall, slender nun in the picturesque white garb of the order 
came to me and announced that I might enter. As I opened the door 
of the schoolroom the children were busy getting out the " didactic 
material " wdth which they were to employ themselves for the next 
hour and a quarter; some came forward to shake hands with me, in 
accordance with the pretty and cordial custom of these schools ; every 
visitor is thus made to feel that she is a friend. Some merely smiled 
and nodded and did not interrupt their work to go through the more 
ceremonious greeting of handshaking. All seemed busy, happy, and 
free. There were three of the white-robed nuns in the room. One 
Avas at a desk near a window- copying some music. She remained all 
morning, occasionally glancing up from her work, but most of the 
time seemingly absorbed by it. The second nun was evidently serv- 
ing in the capacity of physician or trained nurse, as she walked 
around among the children, occasionally asking a question, feeling 
the temiDerature of the hand, or inspecting their physical condition 
in some other way, from time to time jotting down notes in her note- 
book. After this tour of inspection she left the room, and her place 
was taken b}^ a nursery maid or servant, who remained the rest of 
the morning and accompanied the younger children to and from the 
toilet when necessary. 

There was present a roly-poly, black-eyed baby of about 3 years of 
age, who was to me the most interesting child of the morning. Per- 
haps it was because he was evidently at the stage of development to 
which this " didactic material " was so well suited. He was ap- 
parently a newcomer and almost comically helpless. His round fat 
body caused him to move slowly, and his stubby fingers were not 
yet under his control. He sat for a while merely gazing at the 
activities of the busy group around him. By and by the rosy-cheeked 
nun brought to him the big horn-button frame. She stopped slowly 
to button and then unbutton one or two of the buttons and then with- 
out speaking a word she left him. She had given him what is called 
a " silent lesson." For one-half an hour by my watch he Avorked 
over that difficult problem of buttoning and unl)uttoning the large 
horn buttons, concentrated most of the time upon the task. The 
first time he succeeded in gettinc: the button through the buttonhole 



THE DIDACTIC MATERIAL. 19 

he called to the rosy-cheeked nun for her approval. She gave it with 
a smile and a pat on the head. The second button which he mastered 
he again called to her attention, and again she gave her approval, 
but this time with apparently less attention. Each time he asked 
for the approval it grew more incidental. She evidently Avas con- 
sciously trying to wean him from too much desire for approval. By 
and by, after many stoppings to rest l)etween efforts and to watch 
the other children, he succeeded in l:)uttoning the Avhole set of but- 
tons. (There were, I think, six in the frame.) The young nun 
being busy, he held it up for the admiration of the nursery maid, and 
she (after the manner of her kind) immediately unbuttoned the 
entire frame. A wave of indignation overspread the child's face at 
thus seeing his monumental work undone. He sat silent, with a 
slightly sullen expression on his face, and I sighed as I thought this 
was only one incidental evidence on the long list of injustices which 
ignorance is constantly practicing on innocence. 

After five minutes of inertia, Master Roly-poly again picked up 
the frame and began rebuttoning it; this time not so eagerly nor 
with such absorbed attention. When it was again buttoned from 
top to bottom, a matter of at least 10 minutes for his clumsy little 
fingers, he took it to the cupboard, laid it carefully on the shelf, and 
came back to his seat and rested, leaning back in his chair, with 
his hands resting in his lap. He seemed mentally resting as 
well as physicall}^ showing little or no interest now in what was 
going on about him, but merely gazing idly and inattentively at tli^e 
scene before him. No one took the slightest notice of him, appar- 
ently. After about 10 minutes of this relaxation some other child 
placed a box of cylindrical insets before him. (I noticed that this 
was frequently done by an older child when he or she saw a younger 
child sitting idle.) He looked at them for a few moments and then 
straightened himself up and began to work with them in a most 
masterful way, quickly removing them and then just as quickly 
reinserting them. If by chance he put the smaller cylinder into 
the larger hole, he instantly removed it and fitted it into its own 
place. The whole thing was done with an air of alertness and con- 
scious poAver which contrasted in a remarkable way with the clumsy 
and hesitating effort he had made at buttoning the horn buttons. 
He seemed to take a real pride in inserting and removing the cylin- 
ders, such as I had not seen manifested before by any child in the use 
of this particular material. His erect carriage and concentrated 
attention gave evidence of his enjoyment of the familiar and well- 
mastered activity. 

It was a striking illustration of the joy which comes from a sense 
of power over dumb things — "Man's mastery over nature." This 



20 MONTESSORI METHOD AND THE KINDERGARTEN. 

inner joy was evident from the fact that he no longer asked for the 
stimulation of approval from any outside person, but seemed abso- 
lutely unconscious and unmindful as to whether anyone knew or 
oared for this wonderful new skill of his, which could fit cylinders 
into holes and take them out again just as he pleased. Truly in 
this case it was not the information as to varying dimension, but 
rather the inspiration of power felt. After exercising his skill much 
as a musician would run his fingers lightly over the keys of the piano, 
he began playing with the cylinders by purposely putting the small- 
est cylinder into the largest hole and smiling to himself at his joke. 
When he had reached this stage the rosy-cheeked nun brought a 
much smaller child, a wee bit of a baby, not more than 2^ years of 
age, to sit beside Master Koly-poly, and placed a similar box of 
cylinder insets before this little fellow. Was the deed intentionally 
done, or did she merely happen to place him with Master Roly-poly's 
familiar instrument so close to him? The result was that when Wee 
Baby began to pull the first cylinder out of its socket Master Roly- 
poly promptly assisted him, and from that time until the recess -he 
superintended and assisted Wee Baby in his difficult task of learning 
not to try to put little cylinders into big holes or to let big cylinders 
roll away, but to set them on their flat faces. The 3-year-old boy did 
it in such a fatherly and manful way, now and then reaching over 
and assisting Wee Baby when he " just couldn't for the life of him" 
get the right cylinder into the right hole. There, was at no time an 
assumption of superiority. (He had too recently himself come 
through that trying ordeal.) When the time came for putting the 
material away. Master Roly-poly saw to it that his own box of cyl- 
inders was in order ; he then helped Wee Baby put all of his cylinders 
in correctly, and gathering up the two boxes in his short, fat arms, 
he started to take them to the cupboard with such an air of manly 
ability, when an older child came along and authoritatively seized the 
two boxes and carried them to the cupboard. His face clouded with 
keen disappointment, but he submitted, as the weak must always 
submit to the strong, and stood wistfully watching the older child 
put the treasures into the cupboard. The rosy-cheeked nun stood 
near by, but seemed not to see the check which this young soul had 
received — so blind are the best of us. 

I frequently saw this usurping by older children of the oppor- 
tunity for self-help on the part of the younger children, and I won- 
dered if it was a part of the discii^line of the system, or merely one 
of those accidents to which we all have to submit. When the chil- 
dren went out into the courtyard for their play period, my blessed 
little Roly-poly, who had gained such mastery over cylinder insets 
that he could direct an apprentice in the art, again showed the hin- 



THE DIDACTIC MATERIAL. 21 

drance caused by his overfed body. He could not keep up with the 
other children when they ran races, try as he might, and he tried 
heroically with all his might. Each time he came trotting in at the 
tag-end of the race, but he showed pluck and determination to master 
the job, for when the other children stopped their racing and began 
the more pleasing exercise of climbing up some stair steps and 
walking down again he continued to trot to the far end of the loggia 
and back again all alone. Evidently he had set himself to the task 
of learning how to run, and he continued to run. No wonder he had 
already' grown to be " master of insets," and doubtless will succeed to 
be master of much more if he continues to persist in mastering diffi- 
cult tasks. No one took the least notice of his trotting back and 
forth, with his arms close to his side, his fists doubled in true ath- 
letic fashion. 

After a time. Avhen the other children were playing a singing game 
with gestures, he came and stood by the side of the rosy-cheeked 
nun and quietly observed them. He made no attempt whatever to 
join in this far too difficult task for him. Wise little head ! I 
longed desperately to go to him and play with him and awaken more 
power in his resolute young heart. 

At luncheon time he was just as slow and deliberate as his heavy 
body demanded. AVlien I left the room at 12.45 he had not finished 
his soup, although the other children Avere putting away their lunch 
baskets, and little Miss Fidget, in her office as waitress, had been to 
his side several times to ask if he did not wish her to remove the 
soup plate. But it was such a task for his fat little hand to close 
firmly enough around his spoon handle, to fill its bowl with soup, 
and to command the not yet w^ell-coordinated muscles of his short, 
round arm to carry the spoon full of soup to his waiting lips. Then, 
besides, there was so much for him to see that he had to stop eating 
now and then just to look, and look, and look, but the young nun did 
not hurry him, and even little Miss Fidget was good natured in her 
waiting. 

The Montessori didactic material has the advantage of being self- 
corrective: that is, while the child is merely handling the material 
and enjojdng the aimless activity, he incidentally discovers the right 
and the wrong way to handle it. If not fitted into the right place, 
it refuses to be fitted in at all, and he begins all over again and thus 
voluntarily masters his own wayward lack of attention and concen- 
tration. At the same time it gives da«wning perception of dimension 
and geometric form. The material has its limitations, but it un- 
doubtedly absorbs the interests of young children and develops 
their power of concentration at this stage of their growth. I have 
seen as many as 80 visitors in the room where there were only a dozen 



22 MONTESSOEI METHOD AND THE KINDEEGAETEN. 

children, but none of tliem were in the least disturbed by or seem- 
ingly conscious of the presence of the visitors. The building blocks, 
clay for modeling, water-color paints, colored crayons, and black- 
boards (which were hung low enough for the children to write on) 
are also among the materials used, as in the kindergarten. 

P^or some reason Dr. Montessori does not see the value of play with 
clean, disinfected sand — a universal, racial play material of all chil- 
dren of all races, because it is the most easily controlled, the most 
adjustable and most suggestive of the play materials which nature 
furnishes for small and unskilled hands. Dr. Montessori also dis- 
approves of the use of paper and scissors, by means of which kin- 
dergartners have led their children to a wealth of knowledge about 
the primitive processes of the industrial world and the beginning 
of pictorial art. Mothers Avho have learned " construction work " 
and " free-hand cutting " in their kindergarten days have taught 
their children to entertain themselves endlessly and to develop their 
creative power amazingly by the use of a small pair of blunt-pointed 
scissors and ordinary wrapping paper, or even old newspaper. Of 
course, paper construction is to be discarded when the child is skilled 
enough to use satisfactorily and unaided more permanent building 
materials, but its very flexibility is one of its advantages in that it 
encourages effort and quickens the imaginative power of the young 
beginner in craftsmanship. And where is the child who does not 
love to "cut out" pictures if he has learned how to handle scissors? 
However, this leads to ideas that are not connected with the child's 
personal experiences, inasmuch as through pictures he can go far 
afield, Tind the Montessori method would keep him within the limits 
of his own sense-perceived experiences. 

Next after the stage of growth of the young child who is seeldng 
activity for activity's sake comes the beginning of self-expression 
regardless of the form. For this stage of development the Montessori 
material makes little or no provision. 



IV. EXERCISING THE MUSCLES OF YOUNG CHILDREN. 

The definite and organized muscular exercise of the body is 
another thing that Dr. Montessori wisely insists is an important 
part of the young child's education. And she practically carries 
this training forward by having even the very small children learn 
to climb stairs and ladders, to swing from poles and trapeze, to race 
with one another to a goal and back again, as well as to walk on a 
painted line, or a crack in the floor, and thereby to coordinate their 
muscles for easy, well-poised use of the body. 



EXERCISING THE MUSCLES. 23 

Herein again Froebel and Montessori essentially agree. Froebel 
says: 

In teaching the child to stand and walk, we should use neither perambu- 
lators nor leading strings. He should stand when he is strong enough to keep 
his balance freely and independently, and he should walk when, freely moving 
forward, he can independently keep his balance. He should not stand before 
he can sit erect, draw himself up by some tall object near by, and thus keep his 
balance without support. He should not walk before he can creep, rise freely, 
maintain his balance, and proceed by his own effort. 

Dr. Montessori says: 

If there exists an age in which it is necessarj- to protect a child by means of 
a series of gymnastic exercises, between 3 and 6 years is undoubtedly the age. 
The special gymnastics necessary, or, better still, hygienic in this period of 
life, refer chiefly to walking. 

She then explains that the limbs, not having yet attained unto their 
full proportion of strength and growth, are much weaker than the 
torso, and as a rule are still very short as compared with the body. 
From this she argues — 

The tender bones of the limbs must therefore sustain the weight of the torso, 
which is disproportionately large. We can not, if we consider all these thingsi 
judge the manner of walking in little children by the standards set for our own 
equilibrium. If a child is not strong, the erect posture and walking are really 
sources of fatigue for him, and the long bones of the lower limbs, yielding to 
the weight of the body, usually become deformed and easily bowed. * * * 

We are wrong, then, if we consider little children from this physical point of 
view as little men. They have, instead, characteristics and proportions that are 
entirely special to their age. The tendency of the child to stretch out his back 
or kick his legs in the air is an expression of physical needs, related to the 
proportions of his body. 

Such passages as this in Dr. Montessori's writings delight the 
heart of the kindergartner, in that they so exactly correspond Avith 
a theory which imderlies the little exercises known to her as " Play 
with the limbs." The real physical significance of these exercises has 
perhaps too often been overshadowed by the spiritual meaning as- 
signed to them— that of awakening the child to a consciousness of his 
power over his own limbs. In this respect, the doctor-teacher has 
again laid us under obligation by strongly emphasizing the physical 
importance of the slow and unforced development of the child's body : 
The baby loves to walk on all fours just because, like the quadruped ani- 
mals, his limbs are short in comparison with his body. Instead of this, we 
divert these natural manifestations by foolish habits which we impose on the 
child. We hinder him from throwing himself on the earth, from stretching, 
etc., and we oblige him to walk with grown people and to keep up with them. 

She describes a very ingenious device which she invented — a little 
fence made of strong wires stretched in parallel lines and supported 
at intervals by -wooden palings driven into the ground. Along the 



24 MONTESSORI METHOD AND THE KINDERGARTEN. 

fence ran a little ledge on which the children were in the habit of 
sitting dow^n when they were tired. She says : 

I found that little ones of 2i years of age would often drop out from the 
marching line and Instead of sitting down would run to the little fence, catch- 
ing hold of the upper line of wire; they would walk along sideways, resting 
their feet on the wire which was nearest the ground, moving themselves along 
on the wires, pulling their bodies sideways. Thus they discovered for them- 
selves a way of moving along without throwing the weight of their bodies upon 
their weak legs. 

Several other devices for similar purposes are described in her 
writings on muscular training. 

One has but to watch the average proud father striding along in 
his Sunday afternoon stroll with his little 2 or 3 year old child trot- 
ting eagerly and energetically by his side to realize how much this 
explanation of the physical conditions of a child's body is needed. 
How often we hear an intelligent-looking father say to a sobbing 
3-year-old child who is begging to be carried, "No, papa will not 
carry you. You must learn to walk like a little man." Over and 
over again similar scenes are enacted in the daily life of the average 
child. A very earnest and conscientious mother, who, however, had 
not learned to consider the physical difference between herself and 
her child, came to my kindergarten one morning, and sitting down 
beside me, said, quite emphatically, "I came down this morning to 
confess. I gave Albert a good, round spanking last night, and he 
deserved it, too!" (She and I had previously had quite a long talk 
concerning the right and wrong methods of pimishing children.) 
The look of defiance in her eyes and emphatic tone of her voice 
showed me that it was no time to argue with her, so I merely said, 
"Is that so? What had he done?" She replied : 

"I took him down town with me yesterday afternoon to have some shoes 
fitted on him, and as I had some other shopping to do. we were quite late in 
getting home, and it was his supper hour. I was so tired that I told the nurse 
to give him his supper and put him to bed. He refused to go without me 
as I usually sat and talked with him as he ate his supper. I was so tired 
that I felt I needed rest before my own dinner hour, and therefore told the 
nurse to take him In her arms and cari-y him to the nursery. At this he 
began to kick and scream. I allowed this to go on for five minutes or more, 
and then I followed them to the yursery and gave him a good, round spanking, 
which settled him for the night." 

Then she added, half apologetically, "I was so tired, I couldn't 
help it." I looked at her a moment and then said quietly, "And so 
you expected Albert's little body to be less fatigued than yours, and 
for him to have more control over his nerves than you were able 
to maintain." The tears came into her eyes, and I left her to attend 
to other duties. No one Avho reads Dr. Montessori's eloquent plea 



EXERCISING THE MUSCLES. 25 

against over-fatigue for a little child, could make such a mistake 
as this. 

In speaking of the muscular exercises needed by children in the 
lower grades of school, Dr. Montessori says : 

The generally accepted idea of gymnastics is, I consider, very inadequate. 
In the common schools we are accustomed to describe as gymnastics a species 
of collective muscular discipline which has as its aim that children shall learn 
to follow definite ordered movements given in the tone of command. The guid- 
ing spirit in such gymnastics is coercion, and I feel that such exercises repress 
spontaneous movements and impose others in their place. 

She does not seem to realize that all up-to-date American schools 
now emphasize games and sports that call forth physical activity. 
An example of this is the revival of folk dances in the graded schools. 
One of the important features of the kindergarten is the amount of 
muscular training which the child gets in the rhythmic plays and 
dancing games. There is also a little rhythmic work in the Montes- 
sori schools. The children are allowed, when they choose, to keep 
time to some regular march music or occasionally to very simple 
rhythmic music. Still more of this has been introduced into the 
American Montessori schools. I saw a few gesture songs in the Roman 
schools, but they are infrequent and are limited to representations 
of the child's own experiences. The Montessori system does not hold 
these gesture songs and dramatic plays to be important means of self- 
expression. The system fails to take into account that all children 
love to dramatize, not only the life about them but what the}^ hear 
talked of by their elders or what is related to them in story form. 
There is no reason why the two forms of physical exercises can not be 
combined more fully than they are at present. In each center where 
little children are gathered there should be swings, stair steps, walk- 
ing planks, jumping bars, etc.; so that, together with various forms 
of dramatic play, there might also be certain simple apparatus for 
definite and organized physical development. 

Dramatic play is one of the important features of the kinder- 
garten. By means of it the child's imagination, as well as his body, 
is developed. He " makes believe " that he is this or that object or 
person. Thus, much of the necessary coordination of muscles and 
the poise and mastery of the body are gained by flying like birds, 
galloping like horses, hopping like frogs, and by various other dra- 
matic presentations, in which the body is thoroughly exercised. 
This form of play has the added advantage that ideas are gained 
as well as easy grace of bodily movement, although it does not insure 
as accurate and ready a mastery of muscular movement as the formal 
exercises in running, jumping, etc. Both forms of muscular exercise 
are valuable. 



26 MONTESSORI METHOD AND THE KINDEEGARTEN. 

Dr. Montessori sees the value of the mental images made by the 
muscular sense and urges the importance of handling objects, de- 
claring that the sense of touch is by far the most important sense to 
be developed in early childhood, and the one that is oftenest for- 
bidden for the sake of the convenience of grown people. In one 
of her lectures she wittily remarked that if seeing and hearing were 
as troublesome to the average adult as was the touching of objects, 
we should undoubtedly hear parents and teachers say, " Do not see 
that ! " " Do not hear that ! " as often as they now say, " Do not 
touch that ! " This emphasis upon the training of the sense of touch 
is one of the very strong points, pedagogically considered, of her 
method — although our own Dr. Dewey long ago pleaded earnestly 
for the satisfying of the " touch hunger " of children. What he 
felt the need of was self-corrective materials, which, Avhile satisfy- 
ing touch hunger, would also develop accuracy and the consciousness 
of mastery. Kindergartners, it is true, have opportunities in their 
work with the children to have much handling of objects, but as a 
rule it is a haphazard exercising of this sense. 

In this connection it is interesting to note how Froebel saw and 
stated this same instinctive tendency in very young children to form 
mental images by tracing the outline of objects with their finger. 
In " education of man " he says : 

Here a child traces a table by passing his fingers along its edges and out- 
lines, as far as he can reach them. Thus the child sketches the object on the 
object itself, as it were. This is the first, and for the child, the safest step 
by which he becomes aware of the outlines and form of objects. In like manner 
he sketches and studies the chair, the bench, the window. * * * Many 
things are gained by these proceedings of the child : A clear conception of forms, 
the power to represent the forms independently, the fixing of the forms as 
such, strengthening and practice of the arm and hand in free representation of 
these.^ 

This in no way need detract from Dr. Montessori's use of the same 
tendency in children, or the rediscovery of it. It merely shows how 
much the kindergartners have yet to learn from the source of their 
inspiration and their own study of the instinctive activities of chil- 
dren. Dr. Montessori certainly deserves great credit in applying this 
tendency to teaching the letters of the alphabet. It is not necessary 
to enlarge upon the remarkable results that have been obtained in 
the rapid mastery of writing and consequently of reading, by the 
device of giving children 2-inch-long script letters, made of sand- 
paper, which they learn to trace with the first two fingers of the right 
hand, moving the fingers from left to right and thereby strengthen- 
ing the muscles used in ordinary writing. This evidently did not 
occur to Froebel, who probably had in mind the fact that the mental 
image of form led to the awakening of the art instinct in children, 

1 Section ?>7. 



TKAINING OF THE SENSES. 27 

or their desire to express their ideas in form, which comes much 
earlier than the arbitrary means of expression by the letters of the 
aljjhabet. In the judgment of the majority of educators of to-day 
this more complex instrument of self-expression comes much later in 
the child's development. The time for learning to read and write 
must, of course, depend on the stage of development of each child; 
but any device that will lessen for the child the difficult task of learn- 
ing to write and do away with the stupid copy-book should be wel- 
comed with joy. 



V. TRAINING OF THE SENSES. 

Dr. Montessori has given a definite and scientific organization of 
exercises which will not only develop the first fundamental sense of 
touch, but will also train the mind through each of the senses into 
keener and clearer distinguishing of different sense impressions. 

Some of her exercises call for the combined use of two and three 
of the senses. She makes clear that to her it is of paramount im- 
portance to lead the child to the early gaining of these definite, clear- 
cut, and vivid sense impressions. Owing to her, as yet, inadequate 
theory of the nature of the self or ego, she believes that all mental 
activity depends upon the vividness and lasting nature of sense 
impressions. The kindergartners have always advocated the impor- 
tance of sense impressions, but in no kindergarten will one see as 
definite impressions as those given by the Montessori material and 
methods. The " formal training " of the senses, objected to by some 
educators, is so infinitesimal that the objection amounts to nothing. 
It is always individual and rarely ever lasts more than two minutes — 
just long enough to show the child the right way to handle his ma- 
terial — and is instantly discontinued if the child does not manifest 
an interest in it. 

Seguin, in his report of the educational exhibit at Vienna in 1873, 
called attention to the distinct differences between "the training of 
the senses," and " the training through the senses." He claimed that 
the first was physiological and the second was psychological. He also 
stated, in this same report, that J. R. Periere, in his work with deaf- 
mutes, and Dr. Itard, in his work with the idiot, were the only edu- 
cators who at that time had attained any definite results in the train- 
ing of the senses. He called attention to the fact that at the Vienna 
Exposition there were plenty of objects by means of which the sense 
of sight could be trained, but that there was not a single object for 
the improvement of the sense of touch. 

Let us examine more in detail Dr. Montessori's ideas of the train- 
ing of the senses. She speaks of the limited training which can bo 



28 MONTESSOEI METHOD AND THE KINDERGARTEN. 

given to the sense organs themselves, but is most enthusiastic over 
the development which maj^ come to the child through the training 
b}^ means of the senses. She states: 

Pedagogy is not inteuded to measure the senses. That belongs to the physio- 
logical laboratory work. Pedagogy must educate the senses in a deeper mean- 
ing of the term. * * * It is more than likely that the physiological psychol- 
ogists will draw their conclusion from pedagogy than vice versa. 

Her assigned reason for this conclusion is that the instruments of 
the physiological psj^chologists are so constructed that they can 
measure the time between the sensation and the reaction, whereas 
she would have the instruments so normally used by the child that 
they do not weary him, in order that the nerves of sensation and 
reaction may act normally and not abnormally, as is the case in 
experimental psychology. She treats of the senses under their more 
recent eightfold division, dividing the sense of touch into tactile (or 
touch), baric (or weight), thermic (or sensations of heat and cold), 
instead of the usual division of the senses into the sense of taste, 
smell, touch, seeing, and hearing; she also adds, "The stereognostic 
sense" (which is a combination of musctilar and tactile sense). 
She very strongly urges that the more accurate and truthful the 
presentation of the external world can be made through the senses 
the nearer w^e come to the real qualities and properties of matter. 
She claims that each one of us literally makes his own world by the 
mental images stored up wdthin the mind, according to the alertness 
and exactness of our perceptive powers. She shows how the defec- 
tive and the insane, as well as the criminal, " sense " the world ab- 
normally. The realization of this same truth has already led to a 
marked improvement in the treatment of these unfortunates. The 
insane are no longer considered possessed of a vindictive spirit, but 
rather as people with brain sickness who can not view the w^orld 
aright. The defectives are no longer pushed to one side as helpless, 
but are gently and firmly led to exercise their senses more and more 
and are trained to gain a livelihood for themselves. Criminals are 
also placed in hygienic surroundings and brought back to normal 
health as nearly as possible. We need not, however, turn to these 
abnormalities to realize how the " alley " or " ateliers " feed the 
mind with equal readiness. And yet we too often condemn the 
alley-bred man or woman and praise those who have been surrounded 
by law, order, beauty, and cleanliness all their lives. One can there- 
fore readily see why Dr. Montessori becomes so eloquent in her 
pleading for the right environment for children, believing as she does 
that all " the content of our mind is made up of what we take mate- 
riallv from our surroundings bv means of sensations." 



THE SILENT GAME, 29 

Here we come to a true parting of the way between Dr. Montes- 
sori and the advocates of the kindergarten. Kindergartners agree 
with the earnest doctor that the education of the power accuratelj' to 
register sensation is of the greatest possible help to the practical life 
of the child; they accept the fact that sense perceptions make the 
good cook, the economical marketer, the successful shopper, the skill- 
ful physician, and the accurate scientist. In fact, almost all the 
great discoveries in the field of science are more or less the results 
of accuracy of observation and the development of judgment based 
thereon. Kindergartners agree that there is a higher value in " re- 
fining the sense perception" until the individual is saved from the 
coarse sensual indulgences of the appetites of the body ; but all think- 
ing persons must realize that environment alone can not give equal 
pleasure to all. The inner self must he reckoned with. 



VI. THE SILENT GAME. 

We come now to one of the most successful manifestations of 
children's imier self -determining power — the " silent game." The 
following is Dr. Montessori's statement of it : 

The exercise consists iu calling attention, when perfect silence has been 
established, to the ticking of the clock, and to all the little noises not commonly 
audible to the ear. Finally, we call the little ones, one by one, from an adjoining 
room, pronouncing each name in a low voice. In preparing for such an exercise 
it Is necessary to teach the children the real meaning of silence. Toward this 
end I have several games of silence, which help in a surprising way to strengthen 
the remarkable discipline of our children. 

I call the children's attention to myself, telling them to see how silent I can 
be. I assume different positions; standing, sitting, and maintain each ix>se 
silently, without movement. A finger moving can produce a noise, even though 
it be imperceptible. We may breathe so that we may be heard. But I main- 
tain absolute silence, which is not an easy thing to do. I call a child and ask 
him to do as I am doing. He adjusts his feet to a better position, and this 
makes a noise. He moves an arm, stretching it out upon the arm of his chair ; 
it is a noise. His breathing is not altogether silent; it is not tranquil, abso- 
lutely unheard as mine is. 

During these maneuvers on the part of the child, and while my brief com- 
ments are followed by intervals of immobility and silence, the other children 
are watching and listening. ^Many of them are interested in the fact, which 
they have never noticed before, namely, that we make so many noises of which 
we are not conscious, and that there are degrees of silence. There is an abso- 
lute silence where nothing, absolutely nothing, moves. They watch me in amaze- 
ment when I stand in the middle of the room so quietly that it is really as if 
" I were not." Then they strive to imitate me, and to do even better. I call 
attention here and there to a foot that moves, almost inadvertently. The atten- 
tion of the child is called to every part of his body in an anxious eagerness to 
attain to inmiobility. When the children are trying in this way, there is estab- 
lished a silence very different from that which we carelessly call by that name. 



30 MONTESSORI METHOD AND THE KINDERGARTEN. 

It seems as if life gradually vanishes, and that the room becomes, little by 
little, empty, as if there were no longer anyone in it. Then we begin to hear 
the tick-tock of the clock, and this sound seems to grow in intensity as the 
silence becomes absolute. From without, from the court which befoi'e seemed 
silent, there come varied noises — a bird chirps, a child passes. The children 
sit fascinated by that silence as if by some conquest of their own. "Here," 
says the directress, " here thei'e is no longer anyone; the children have all gone 
away." 

Having arrived at that point, we darken the windows, and tell the children 
to close their eyes, resting their heads upon their hands. They assume this 
position, and in the dai'kness the absolute silence returns. 

" Now, listen," we say. "A soft voice is going to call your names." Then, 
going to a room behind the children, and standing within the open door, I call 
in a low voice, lingering over the syllables as if I were calling from across the 
mountains. This voice, almost occult, seems to reach the heart and to call 
to the soul of the child. Each one as he is called, lifts his head, opens his 
eyes as if altogether happy, then rises, silently seeking not to move the chair, 
and walks on the tips of his toes, so quietly that he is scarcely heard. Never- 
theless his step resounds in the silence and amid the immobility which persists. 

This silent game, as witnessed by any visitor to these schools, is a 
remarkable and surprising evidence of the amount of control a little 
child can gain over his body in the matter of consciously inhibiting 
its movement. The silence is felt by all in the room, no matter how 
many visitors may be present. The amount of self-control which 
this develops in children (some of whom were not over 3 years of 
age) is marvelous, and no child, so far as I was able to observe, 
seemed taxed or strained in doing it ; in fact, I saw an added expres- 
sion of placid rest come upon many of their faces. Just how far 
such an exercise of concentration and self-control can be developed 
in our restless and mixed population remains to be seen. We have in 
our kindergarten a " rest period," but it often is merely arrested 
physical activity. Even when entire silence is attempted it is usually 
brought about by the kindergartner going from table to table with 
her hands folded or clasped together and whispering softly to the 
children, who imitate and become quiet. This is entirely different 
from the consciousness of power within to inhibit all external 
activity as it is induced by an external stimulus, whereas the won- 
derful silence in these Roman schools is from a will activity awakened 
within the child by his own volition. 



VII. LIMITATIONS OF THE MONTESSOEI METHOD. 

An attempt is made in the following pages to sum up briefly what 
seem to be important limitations of the Montessori method. 

(a) Emphasis on individual development rather than group train- 
ing. — The kindergarten stresses group activities, on the ground that 
the place for individual training is in the prekindergaiten stage, 



LIMITATIONS OF THE MONTESSOEI METHOD. 31 

while Montessori's emphasis is almost exclusively on the development 
of individuality. 

In the well-developed plan of the Frobelian education the co- 
ordinating of muscles, the special training of the child's senses, and 
all such phases of necessarily individual development are expected to 
come in the nursery. This individual nursery training is strongly 
emphasized as needed before the child has developed the "group 
instinct," the latter coming when he is old enough to mingle freely 
and happily with other children. The kinclergartners claim that 
this training belongs essentially in the home and should not be ex- 
pected of the teacher in the school, who must attend to large groups 
of children. The Montessori method neglects almost entirely the 
training in group activities, which is one of the kindergarten's real 
contributions to civilization, 

(5) No place for stories. — The failure to make a place for stories 
is one of the serious limitations in Madame Montessori's theory of the 
training of little children. Her reason for objecting to stories for 
young children is based in part on her psychological theory that all 
activities of the mind are derived from the outside world and are 
dependent on sense impressions, and that therefore the child should 
be kept within the realm of his own personal experience until he is 
at least 7 or 8 years old, and in part upon the fact that in her per- 
sonal experience she has found it difficult to keep the attention of 
children under 5 years of age when telling a story. Much depends 
upon the individual child's previous experience in listening and much 
on the story-teller's power. Many kindergartners could give a dif- 
ferent testimony as to the power of attention that children of 3, 4, and 
5 years of age have shown in listening intelligently to simple stories. 

Let us confess that oftentimes kindergartners tell stories that are 
beyond the comprehension of their children. Let us also confess 
that kindergartners frequently prolong a story unwisely after the 
restlessness of fatigue has begun to manifest itself in the bodies of 
the children. Let us also confess that sometimes kindergartners 
lack discernment as to what is true literature and what is not, and 
therefore tell '"silly" stories, merely because they are found among 
the old legends or are recommended by some popular leader. They 
fail to discern that the time-tested myths of the primitive race and 
symbolic stories which furnish the child's imagination with genuine 
art forms are one thing and the foolishly exaggerated and capricious 
fancy of some shallow mind are quite another thing. Occasionally, 
also, i kindergartner does not tell her story well because she is not 
interested in it. Yet none of these things alter in tlie least the value 
of a good story, well told, any more than poor playing or singing 
destroys the value of good music, or absurd affectation of manner 



32 MONTESSORI METHOD AND THE KINDERGARTEN. 

spoils grace of movement, or ceremonious and hollow etiquette de- 
stroys the charm of true courtesy. 

A good story is a work of art, because it is a fitting form for a 
beautiful content. A story is well told when the story-teller, for 
the time being, is living in the events related, forgetful of self. Dr. 
Montessori fails, seemingly, to see what the psychological value of 
the right kind of a story is, namely, that it takes the child into a 
larger world than he can possibly enter by means of his senses alone. 
It furnishes food for his imagination, which in these early years is 
as hungry as is his desire for sense impression ; for the imagination 
is that power of the human mind which can see things the eyes may 
not see, can hear sounds not yet created in the actual world. The 
unwise play upon the "credulity" of a child by giving him false and 
foolish reasons for the various phenomena of nature, or the waste 
of precious time by entertaining him with the kind of silly fairy 
tales that have no content, does not justify the neglect wisely to guide 
and develop this great power of seeing the invisible things of the 
world of yet-to-be. 

(c) Lack of Tnaterial for self-expression. — With the possible ex- 
ception of the musical bells (the tones of which the child can recom- 
bine in his own way), the rather meager block building, some little 
clay modeling, and the selection of the color of the crayon pencil to 
be used in filling in the already traced forms, there seems to be no 
opportunity for the child to rearrange or make over his material 
according to his own ideas. This, of course, checks a most important 
instinct of childhood, namely, the desire to re-create his surrounding 
according to his own inner ideas. This lack comes also from what 
seems to be the Dottoressa's limitation in the psychological view of 
the mind's activity. She insists upon many repetitions of sense im- 
pressions before any activity is allowed to the rearrangement or 
readjustment of these impressions, whereas it is a well-laiown fact 
to any observer of young children that as soon as a child gets even 
a partial mastery of his material he begins to try experiments 
with it or, in other words, to test his mastery over it by using it 
according to some plan of his own, suggested oftentime by an acci- 
dental arrangement of the materials. In the best of these schotjls in 
Rome I saw children trying to use the very limited mathenlatical 
material to represent some form of life which their imaginatioji had 
called up. For example, after putting the cylindrical insets into 
their sockets a number of times they quite frequently took theiji out 
and tried to use them as w^heels, on the top of which they place^i the 
block containing the sockets as the body of the wagon. Again, they 
tried to build houses out of the flat-end spools on which their color 
thread was wound. These and all similar efforts at free, creative use 



LIMITATIONS OF THE MONTESSORI METHOD. 33 

of the material were always checked. When Ave consider the possi- 
bilities that lie dormant in the human mind, which are never discov- 
ered or never developed because this initiation into creative activity 
has been so often starved, and that precious activity of the will (the 
courage to begin a new thing) has been inhibited during the develop- 
ing years of early childhood, we realize how serious a limitation this 
is, at this period of the child's growth, just as he is beginning to 
test his powers and thereby gain confidence in himself. It is not yet 
sufficiently realized by the educational world at large that this dawn- 
ing within of a feeling of power to transform the objects of the 
outside world is the awakening of original, creative instinct. 

{d) Lack of definite attitude on religious training. — Dr. Montes- 
sori acknowledges the importance of religious training for little 
children, but confesses that as yet it is an unsolved problem to her. 
She seems to feel that a child's spiritual nature will unfold aright 
if freedom is given to it, if it is in no way warped or stunted by 
the prejudices and superstitutions of the adult life about it. She 
believes that, if the child is kept happy and busy, the " life within " 
will unfold and blossom as does the flower. But the questions arise, 
" Is it possilile to have a child's spiritual nature unfold unhampered 
by the customs and opinions of the older people about him ? " 
" Does not the spiritual life need spiritual nourishment as much 
as the body needs physical nourishment?" To all deeply earnest 
teachers of little children it is self-evident that " the divine spirit 
which lives and is manifest in the finite has an early, though dim, 
feeling of its divine origin * * * and that the anticipation 
and hope, the trust and disposition of childhood show the way"; 
and we all agree with the founder of the kindergarten in the theory 
of " animism," that " the child approaches the outer world with the 
feeling that it, too, is animated and ruled by a spirit like that which 
animates him: and he is filled with an intense longing to Imow this 
all-ruling power." And again we assent when he says, " We trust too 
little the energizing, uniting power in a child ; we respect it too little 
as a spiritual quickening power." 

So far the founder of the kindergarten and the Dottoressa agree. 
But when Froebel, after declaring that the child unconsciously 
manifests the divine impulses within him, continues, "but man is 
to follow it (the manifestation) with conscious insight^ persisting in 
what he knows to be right," and emphasizes the need of definite 
training of this kind by adding, "this should be considered by 
thoughtful parents who allow their children to grow to school age, 
without giving the slightest care as to the religious tendency of 
young minds," then we begin to see the parting of the ways. Psy- 
chologically this means that the parent and teacher should know 



34 MOXTESSOEI METHOD AND THE KINDEEGAETEN. 

what the right emotions to be nurtured are. The whole history of 
the race tells us that all religion is an outgrowth of the emotion of 
reverence for the invisible but ever present power, which is beyond 
the comprehension of man. We read in the chronicles of the past 
how this emotion, unguided or misdirected, develops into fear or 
degenerates into superstition; how, w'hen rightly directed, it devel- 
ops into true religion, in some form of love, reverence, and unselfish 
service to mankind. It is the most important subject in all educa- 
tion ; for, without a sound religious foundation, without a basic belief 
in the infinite value of the inner life of man, as compared with mere 
external prosperity, no individual can be truly happy, no civiliza- 
tion can last long. 

It is a grave and serious subject. The child is more often sinned 
against in his spiritual life than in any other way. He asks us for 
bread, and we give him a stone! It is upon this vital subject that 
the psychological study of the kindergarten gives us its most im- 
portant help, by turning us back from depending on external forms 
and ceremonies to the reverent study of the inner moods of chil- 
dren, as manifested by their hungry questionings concerning God 
and the invisible side of life. Often we must answer these questions 
with " I do not know ; " but always we may rest assured that they 
feel and understand our inner attitude of faith or doubt, of reverence 
or skepticism. It is this that makes motherhood so sacred, and the 
office of teacher so great. It is because Froebel takes this view of 
the religious training of children that his book for mothers gives 
such definite help in guiding the spiritual life of a little child. Dr. 
Montessori's writings and her oral teaching appear to be lacking in 
this important particular. 



Notwithstanding the limitations of the present stage of Dr. Mon- 
tessori's educational method, she has assuredly made a valuable 
contribution to the better understanding of young children. Had 
she given us nothing else than her own patient, reverent study of 
child life, she w-ould have placed us under a debt of gratitude. As 
it is, she has given much which every earnest mother and true teacher 
should know and apply to her work. 



BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF EDUCATION. 

[Note. — With the exceptions indicated, the documents named below will be sent free of charge upoo 
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II BULLETIN OF THE BUEEAU OF EDUCATION. 



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♦No. 35. A list of books suited to a high-school library. 15 cts. 
♦No. 36. Report on the work of the Bm-eau of Education for the natives of Alaska, 1911-12. 10 cts. 

No. 37. Monthly record of current educational publications, October, 1913. 
tNo. 38. Economy of time in education. 

No. 39. Elementary industrial school of Cleveland, Ohio. W. N. Haihnann. 
♦No. 40. The reorganized school playgroimd. Henry S. Curtis. 10 cts. 

No. 41. The reorganization of secondary education. 

No. 42. An experimental rural school at Winthrop CoUege. H. S. Browne. 
♦No. 43. Agricultiu-e and rural-life day; material for its observance. Eugene C. Brooks. 10 cts. 
♦No. 44. Organized health work in schools. E.B.Hoag. 10 cts. 

No. 45. Monthly record of current educational publications, November, 1913. 
*No. 46. Educational directory, 1913. 15 cts. 

♦No. 47. Teaching material in Government publications. F. K. Noyes. 10 cts. 
♦No. 48. School hj'giene. W. Carson Ryan, jr. 15 cts. 

No. 49. The Farragut School, a Tennessee country-life high school. A. C. Monahan and Adams PhilUps. 

No. 50. The Fitchbrug plan of cooperative industrial education. M. R. McCann. 
tNo. 51. Education of the immigrant. 
♦No. 52. Sanitary schoolhouses. Legal requirements in Indiana and Ohio. 5 cts. 

No. 53. Monthly record of current educational publications, December, 1913. 

No. 54. Consular reports on industrial education in Germany. 

No. 55. Legislation and judicial decisions relating to education, October 1, 1909, to October 1, 1912. 

James C. Boykin and William R. Hood. 
*No. 56. Some suggestive features of the Swiss school system. WUliam Knox Tate. 25 cts. 

No. 57. Elementary education in England, with special reference to London, Liverpool, and Manchester. 
I. L. Kandel. 

No. 58. Educational system of rural Denmark. Harold W. Foght. 

No. 59. Bibliography of education for 1910-11. 

No. 60. Statistics of State imiversities and other institutions of higher education partially supported 
by the State, 1912-13. 

1914. 

*No. 1. Monthly record of current educational publications, January, 1914. Sets. 
No. 2. Compulsory school attendance. 

No. 3. Monthly record of current educational publications, Febniary, 1914. 
No. 4. The school and the start in life. Meyer Bloomfield. 



IV BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF EDUCATION. 

No. 5. The folk high schools of Denmark. L. L. Friend. 

No. 6. Kindergartens in the United States. 

No. 7. Monthly record of current educational publications, March, 1914. 

No. S. The Massachusetts home-project plan of vocational agricultural education. R. W. Stimson. 

No. 9. Monthly record of ciuTent educational publications, April, 1914. 

No. 10. rhysical growth and school progress. B. T. Baldwin. 

No. 11. Monthly record of current educational publications, May, 1914. 

No. 12. Rural schooUiouses and grounds. F. B. Dresslar. 

No. 13. Present status of drawing and art in the elementary and secondary schools of the United States 

Royal 13. Farnum. 
No. 14. Vocational guidance. 

No. 15. Monthly record of current educational publications. Index. 
No. 16. The tangible rewards of teaching. James C. Boykin and Roberta King. 
No. 17. Sanitary survey of the schools of Orange County, Va. R. K. Flannagan. 
No. 18. The public school system of Gary, Ind. William P. Burris. 
No. 19. University e.xtension in the United States. Louis E. Reber. 
No. 20. The rural school and hookworm disease. J. A. Ferrell. 
No. 21. Monthly record of current educational publications, September, 1914. 
No. 22. The Danish folk high schools. II. W. Foght. 
No. 23. Some trade schools in Europe. Frank L. Glyim. 
No. 24. Danish elementary rural schools. H. W. Foght. 
No. 25. Important features in rural school improvement. W. T. Hodges. 
No. 26. Monthly record of current educational publications, October, 1914. 



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